Apparently, there is a whole bunch of parents who are willing to send their 4 and 10 month old babies to gym classes. These people are insane. And the gym owners should be ashamed of themselves.
There is a US-based company that caters to babies, and their uninformed parents, and prey on the fears that naturally chubby babies will grow up to be obese children and adults. This is a disturbing trend. Parents don’t need to pay to take their babies to a gym and have a “baby personal trainer” help them crawl and do front rolls. Parents don’t need anyone to help them hold their baby’s hand and help them to walk on a balance beam. Babies don’t need personal trainers or strength training. They don’t need tumbling instruction or physical activities as a way to develop confidence or to effect metabolism.
According to a recent story in the London Daily Mirror American’s fear of obesity has spread across the pond to the United Kingdom and parents are flocking to these gyms. It really is a shame that some parents are totally clueless when it comes to what do to with their kids, but it is really disgraceful that a business is so willing to take advantage of these people.
Incredibly, these gyms have been conducting classes for 10-month old babies and are about to start classes for 4-month olds to meet the demands of these oblivious parents. Certainly the babies don’t know that they want to hit the gym. Babies at 4-months can barely crawl and can’t sit up. What can a trip to the gym do for them?
The marketing garbage that these gyms push on these naïve parents must rank up there with the worst of the worst infomercial scams that you can find on late night cable. I can just hear the elements of the pitch; “we want to make movement fun for your baby,” “your baby needs to learn how to move properly,” “we can teach your baby how to have confidence,” “we’ll improve you kid’s flexibility and stability,” “it’s never too early to get you baby started on an tumbling program.” This is all nonsense. It’s scary that some parents are so oblivious, but it’s even sadder that there are people willing to take advantage of this reality.
